AMA
by Anotherjaneway
Summary: The gang lives vicariously at the circus during a paramedic program promotion gig. A young couple learns a hard lesson about going against medical advice.


This is a text version of the original still airing imaged, music soundtracked story.

Emergency Theater Live, Episode Thirty Eight

38. A.M.A. Season Five - Episode 38 Short summary-  
The gang lives vicariously at the circus during a paramedic program promotion gig. A young couple learns a hard lesson about going against medical advice.

****WARNING**** The long summary to come is very story spoiling and will take away plot surprises if you read it now before reading the longer story below it.

Decide now if you want to read this episode's detailed summary before doing so.

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Long Summary-  
Roy and Johnny find themselves promoting the paramedic program at a touring circus show. Station 51 responds to Vince Howard's call for help for rescue from a siege by a tiger. Gage suffers stage fright and the attentions of a friendly elephant. A mock human torch rescue is staged ringside that's unexpectedly enhanced by clownery. A circus performer actively goes against medical advice following a diabetic syncopal episode after being revived by Station 51. Roy's family shows up to see a performance along with the rest of the gang. A trapeze artist from their earlier rescue suffers a traumatic fall and Station 51 tries absolutely everything to save him. Chet uses humor to cheer up Chris DeSoto following the incident.

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The Story Unfolds...

Season Five, Episode Thirty Eight.  
A.M.A. Debut Launch: October 1st, 2006. *  
From: E!lf  
Subject: The Big Tent Date: Mon Oct 9, 2006 5:39 pm

At Fire Station 51 in Carson, California, Captain Hank Stanley was just finishing up morning roll call. He nodded towards the two paramedics who stood to one end of the line as he addressed his engine crew.  
"I'm sure you all remember Billy from the time he spent here during his field training, and of course you all know Chuck. They're going to be with us for the next two weeks while Gage and DeSoto are . . . " he paused, trying hard to bite back a grin and maintain his professional demeanor, "occupied elsewhere."  
Mike Stoker and Marco Lopez smirked and Chet Kelly snickered.  
"I'm sure," Cap said, glaring at Chet, "that you will all do your best to make them feel welcome, and to leave them with an image of 51 that reflects our professionalism and maturity. Right?"  
The men nodded and Cap allowed himself a smile. "Good. And finally, I'm pleased to inform you that the fire department has provided us with tickets to tomorrow night's performance. We have two tickets apiece, so feel free to bring a guest. I thought it might be nice if we meet ahead of time and go in a group. I'm sure that Roy and Johnny will appreciate our support in this," he struggled for a word, "worthwhile endeavor. Any questions?"  
Chet stepped forward and raised his hand, his face studiously serious.  
Cap grimaced. "Yes, Kelly?"  
"Just one question, Captain. When we get to the circus . . . how will we know which clowns are ours?"

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The Samson Brothers' Circus Extravaganza had pitched their tents and parked their cages on the grass at the center of the Gold Rush Arena. Roy DeSoto and John Gage, dressed in their regular working uniforms, stood just inside the rear entrance of the main tent and watched the crowd filing in for the first matinee performance. Roy had been drinking a soda and was now down to crunching the ice left in the cup. Johnny stood just behind him, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised and a thoughtful frown on his face.  
"Roy, I want you to tell me something. Explain to me again why it's a good idea for us to do this."  
Roy gave his partner a long sideways look through slitted eyes. "Well," he said finally, "it's a good idea because it's going to help inform people that our services are available, and in a way that they'll remember. And it's a good idea because it's going to be good public relations for the fire department. And it's a good idea because for every performance we attend the circus is going to donate a portion of the proceeds to the paramedic program for training and equipment. That's why. Or at least, that's what I was told."  
Johnny shook his head. "No, no. You're not understanding me. Those are all reasons why it's a good idea to do this. I want you to explain to me why it's a good idea for US to do this."  
Roy took a minute to chew on his ice some more. "Actually, Junior, I'm still a little foggy on that one myself. I think, though, that it might have something to do with the fact that it was YOUR idea!"  
"You could've talked me out of it."  
"I was home with the flu! By the time I came back you'd written the chief!"  
"Right." Johnny nodded, satisfied. "So we agree that it was your fault then."  
Before Roy could defend himself the lights in the tent dimmed and the ringmaster ran out into the center ring. "Ladies and gentlemen! Children of all ages! The Samson Brothers' Circus Extravaganza is pleased and proud to welcome the people of Los Angeles County!"  
As the ringmaster swung into his spiel the two paramedics edged apart to allow a small dark-haired woman in a spangled red leotard to slip between them. Johnny watched her with appreciative eyes. She caught the look and gave him a cagey smile.  
"You couldn't catch me, Firefly!"  
"Oh, yeah? Why don't you try falling for me and see?"  
"Is that offer open to all the females in the company?" The two men turned at the new voice and Johnny found himself smiling into the face of a bearded fat woman. Roy choked on an ice cube and Johnny took a couple of careful steps back and made a production of pounding on Roy's back.  
"'Scuse me a second, here. I just gotta save my partner. Swallowed an ice cube. It was nice to meet you."  
The bearded lady laughed at him and left and both men breathed a sigh of relief.  
"You can stop hitting me now," Roy said. "I can breathe again."  
"Yeah, so can I."  
The stage manager tapped them each on the shoulder. "Pay attention fellows. You're just about up."  
They returned their attention to the ringmaster and found that he was talking about them. "During our stay in L.A. County this year we are pleased to have with us two very special guests. From Fire Station 51 in Carson, California, I give you Firefighter/Paramedics Roy DeSoto and John Gage!" The crowd burst into applause and Roy and Johnny trotted out and stood one on either side of the ringmaster, as they had been instructed.

The ringmaster passed the microphone over to Roy and DeSoto addressed the crowd. "Less than two years ago Los Angeles County made history when our lawmakers passed the Wedsworth-Townsend Act, creating the first paramedic program in the nation. Now, for those of you who don't know, a paramedic is a rescue fireman who has received special training to administer emergency first aid in the field. Since the program's inception it has grown by leaps and bounds, but we are still finding a lot of people who don't know what we're doing, or who don't understand the services we have to offer the community." He handed the mike over to Johnny and his partner picked up where he left off.  
"My partner and I are here today to spread the word to you, and to ask you to spread the word to your family and friends, that if you are in trouble, the fire department will be there for you. There doesn't have to be a fire. If you are in a car accident, we will be there. If you think you're having a heart attack, we'll be there. If you're choking on a piece of food, or you get struck by lightning, or you're going into labor and you can't get to a hospital, we'll be there. You only have to remember who to call."  
Johnny gave the microphone back to the ringmaster, thankful that he'd made it through his portion of the speech.  
The ringmaster turned as he talked, taking in the whole crowd and gesturing widely. "Would you like to see these young men in action?" he asked. The crowd roared. "Well, you're in luck! At some point during this performance we will set up a simulated emergency and call on our daring young friends here to perform a rescue. Now, they don't have any idea what we're planning, so what you're going to see will be completely unrehearsed! How does that sound?"  
The crowd roared again. Johnny grinned widely and waved. Roy ducked his head and smiled shyly.  
"So!" The ringmaster moved on, "a big round of applause for our valiant firemen! And now, if you'll direct your attention to the first ring . . . ."

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Photos: None.

*  
From: E!lf  
Date: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:02 pm Subject: Animal Acts

In the early afternoon, the men of 51 were sitting around talking in the rec room, when the tones sent them scrambling for their vehicles. Cap made it to the radio alcove and stood ready to reply.  
##Station 51. Cat in tree. Shady Valley Park at the Bleeker Street entrance. Shady Valley Park at the Bleeker Street entrance.  
Time out 14:32#  
Cap blinked and looked around, seeing his own disbelief mirrored on the faces of his men. He glared up at the loudspeaker as if it could carry his puzzled expression back to L.A. for him. Since he knew it couldn't, he also spoke. "L.A., confirm please. Cat in tree?"  
##Affirmative, 51. The L.A. Sheriff's Department called it in#  
Cap sighed and shrugged. "Station 51, 10-4. KMG 365."  
Four minutes later, the engine and squad turned into the Beeker Street park entrance and rolled to a stop near a large crowd that had gathered and was staring towards a large tree at the edge of a playground. Looking around, the firemen found two sheriff's deputies standing back in a safe open spot, arms crossed, looking up into the branches nearby.

At the foot of the same tree, sat a slathering, snarling, viciously yapping miniature chihuahua.

Captain Stanley, followed by his men, walked over to where the cops were waiting.  
"....Yeah, I know. You think this is real funny. I do not want to hear ONE WORD from any of you! Especially you, Gage! Hey? Where are Gage and DeSoto?..." said a body-less voice.

"Not here today apparently.." answered one of the deputies, still smiling.  
Cap looked around in bewilderment. He recognized the voice of Deputy Vince Howard, but he didn't see him. He glanced at the two deputies he did see, who were standing there smirking as they maintained light crowd control. Without a word, one of them pointed up, shrugging.  
So Cap looked up. Then he gaped. "I see it, but I don't believe it."  
Eight feet up, an enormous Bengal tiger clung to the tree trunk. Her tail lashed from side to side, her ears were laid back along her head and her body language clearly radiated terror. Five feet higher, Vince Howard was perched uneasily on a branch.  
"How in the world?" Cap asked. "I mean, just . . . how?"  
Vince scowled down at him. "I answered a call about a big cat at the playground. I thought it was just some kids playing a prank on me. All of the sudden, I hear this unearthly snarling come from the underbrush, and then that ..that...that monster charged me. I climbed the tree to get away from it fast but then it just followed me."  
"You climbed a tree to get away from a- a...?" Chet asked in disbelief.  
"Look, Kelly! You just wait until you have an eight hundred pound feline bearing down on you and then we'll see how clearly YOU think!" Vince roared.  
"So let me get this straight." Cap said. "You were chased up a tree by an escaped tiger that was being chased by a miniature chihuahua? So, in other words, you both got treed by a...uhhh... a mad mini dog." He bit the inside of his cheek. Sometimes it was HARD to keep a straight face.  
::This one'll look real nice in the log books for the chiefs.:: he thought.  
Vince just scowled down at him. He was not amused.  
Cap turned to the other deputies. "Any idea where that tiger came from?  
She doesn't seem very aggressive...Lucky us.."  
"Uh, yeah. We know." One of them gestured to the crowd and an elderly man trotted over to join them. "He's got the proper permits for her."  
"Don't hurt her!" the new man pleaded. "Please don't hurt my Esmeralda! She doesn't mean any harm! It's the dog, you see. She's terrified of dogs."  
Chet indicated the chihuahua. "That counts? I mean, seriously. Compared to her,.." he said pointing up at the tiger. "..he's an appetizer."  
"Careful, boys. Any time I try to come down she reaches out some claws at me." Vince called.  
The tiger's owner pleaded gently in soothing tones meant for the tigress.  
"It's because she's afraid. She just wants you to protect her, officer! I raised her from a kitten after she was orphaned -- I have a private big cat preserve just down the road. When she was small she was attacked by a Pomeranian and she's been terrified of getting in contact with little yapper dogs ever since."

Marco shrugged. "Geezzzz. I can see THAT. They kind of give me the heebie jeebies, too. Just look at him go!" Lopez shivered at the dog's continuing frenzied vocal attack.

"Easy Esme.. We'll get you down soon, girl." soothed the man over the chihuahua's noise.

"We have animal control on the way." one of the deputies told Cap.  
"But if they knock her out with a tranquilizer, she's apt to be injured when she falls out of the tree. We thought maybe you fireguys could come up with something not quite so drastic.."

"Also, we HAVE to do something about that d*mn*d dog!" Vince shouted empathetically. "My ear's are ringing!"

Vince's coworkers winced in sympathy at his outburst. "Any suggestions?" they asked the fire crew, keeping unconsious watchful hands on their unsnapped gun holsters.  
From his perch in the tree, Vince called down to them. "I don't want to rush you guys, but I'd appreciate it if you'd think fast. I hate to mention this, but I gotta use the can real soon!"

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Photos: None.

*  
From: "Roxy Dee"  
Subject: The Way To An Animal's Heart Is Through His.  
Date: Thu Oct 12, 2006 3:16 pm

Hank Stanley got serious. "Hang on, Vince. We're gonna take a minute to think on this one, ok? Won't be long, I promise."

Chuck Sheppard, one of the replacement paramedics for the circus bound Roy and Johnny said. "Really?.. Cap! Getting the man's hopes up like that. I'm glad somebody gets to think that we're going to be some kind of miracle workers today..." he teased.

"Hush...It's called giving encouragement to a victim." Cap grinned. "Why don't you..get out the gear and biophone in case somebody actually does get hurt here while we're helping out. Might happen.  
You know how unpredictable animals get on rescue calls. Last thing I want to do is have to explain myself to the chiefs later, on how somebody got themselves chewed up."

"Are we gonna go through anything like what postmen get while delivering the mail?" smiled paramedic Billy Hanks.

"Let's hope not. The engine won't hold all of us if we find ourselves needing a place to hide." Cap joked. Then he turned to the deputies. "Who owns the dog?"

"That one's still a mystery.." said the nearest one.

"Terrific.." Cap muttered sarcastically. "Let's hope we don't have to kill either one of them to get Vince down from there."

"You wouldn't do that? Would you?" the tiger man gasped, overhearing.

One of the jumpier deputies spoke up. "If any lives come in direct danger from your tiger while she's trying to get away from that dog? You bet your *ss we will."

Captain immediately inserted himself between cop and owner. "Now.. now. Nobody's doing anything lethal yet. So just relax and try to calm down a whole lot, mister. We don't want the tiger picking up your stress levels."  
Hank mediated quickly.

The owner glanced up into the tree with worry, but he saw that nothing had changed there.

The firemen fell to thinking around a picnic table.

Chet Kelly finally thought of something. "I got it! Hang on a sec, Cap. I think I got the solution to our entire problem right here." And he began digging into his turnout pocket. "I'm surprised I didn't think of it sooner." he said.

All the gang raised curious eyebrows. And so did the cops.

Kelly drew out a fresh, wax paper covered large cattle's knuckle bone from the butcher's from his turnout coat. "I was going to give this to Bonnie this morning, but I forgot to." Then he began whistling at the dog. "Here boy.. Come on, you little mop scrap. Look what I got for ya....." he teased the chihuahua.

The overexcited mutt instantly forgot the tiger and turned playfully eager for the bone, arrowing for Chet's position through the tall grass.

"That's never going to work, Chet. That bone's bigger than he is.." Marco chided.

"So's the tiger.." Kelly shrugged. "And she didn't stop him, did she?"  
Then he turned back to the dog. "Hey, you crazy mutt. Go fetch!" and he tossed the large gristled meat covered chunk far out over the playground. They all saw it land in a sand box with a soft "plish"ing geyser of quartz crystals. The tiny dog burst into motion as he went chasing after it, suddenly hungry. The chihuahua was soon chewing blissfully on the huge bloody morsel to the exclusion of all else.

In the tree, the tigress took notice, and she lifted her head quickly, seeing her chance to leave. She bounded down out of the tree and instantly made for her owner. Seconds later, she thrust her head through the solid steel chain and leather collar he held open for her that had been dangling from his back jeans pocket.

"There.. there.. Shhh, easy Esmeralda.. Daddy's here." he soothed, caressing and kissing her huge face after she was securely buckled.

All the cops and firemen looked on in disbelief.

"What a pussy cat. Wow.." Cap finally said breaking the silence, throwing out a gesture of dismissal. They watched as man and tiger left the scene for the road which led back to the animal's enclosure pen, trailed by a pair of watchful deputies. He lifted his HT. "Engine 51 to L.A. Please cancel the request for an armed animal control unit to our location. Looks like we won't be needing them. The situation's definitely under control now."

##10-4, Engine 51. L.A. to Animal Control Sierra 240, cancel.##

##Sierra 240. Cancelling. Returning to base.## said a reply.

The gang quickly set up a short ladder for Vince to use to climb out of the tree.

The poor police officer was practically dancing up and down to ease the pressure of his overfull bladder.

Billy nodded at him. "We might have an extra plastic urinal in the squad. But I doubt it--"

Chet Kelly cut in neatly. "Or...you can just use this tree here. It's sure been handy enough. We can get the folks in the crowd to promise not to look."

Marco piped up, too, jogging for the Ward. "Cap, I'll go grab a tarp to cover him."

"You do that." said Hank and Vince at the same time in exactly the same commanding way.

Both of them started laughing at each other over the whole, crazy unbelievable tiger versus dog misadventure.

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Photos: None.

*  
From: Patti or Cassidy or Jeff  
Date: Friday Oct 13, 2006 12:05 pm Subject: Stage Fright...

Johnny Gage, on the sidelines of the live circus show in progress,  
was growing increasingly nervous. And his partner began to notice it. "I know it, Roy. It's gonna be one of those absolutely wonderful days... I can feel it in every bone of my body." sighed Johnny Gage sarcastically.

"Ok, out with it.." Roy said finally as he watched the ballet riders tandem balance uncannily on the backs of a pair of beautifully feather costumed horses.

Johnny's head whipped around a little too fast. "Out with what? Shh.. Show some politeness, would ya? Can't you see I'm trying to enjoy the show here?!"

"Yes... I can." DeSoto said matter of factly, crossing his arms over his elbows nonchalantly. "But what I'm trying to figure out, too, is why you think you have to really try in order to do that. What's gotcha all riled up,  
junior? We're on a vacation of sorts here. And we're getting paid for it."

"What's got me all riled up?" Johnny hissed at Roy. "I'll tell you what's got me all riled up. Do you really wanna look like a fool when we finally get out there?" he asked, jabbing a finger at the three circus rings bursting with rainbow colored roving spotlights as performers from all walks of the carnival strutted, handspring leaped, and tumbled their hearts out for their large, attending audience.

It was Roy's turn to let his mouth flop open. "I don't get it."

"There's nothing to get, Roy. Do I have to spell it out for ya?!" asked Johnny. His voice's tone rose higher and higher, the louder the audience clapped for each successive circus act. They especially cheered for the California sea lions balancing and pretending to drive and play with rubber balls on top of a CHiP officer's car.

"Yeah.. I think you do.." DeSoto said, chewing on some popcorn from white and red striped box that a passing organ grinder monkey had handed him at the behest of its master a few minutes ago. "Want some?"

"Roy. Haven't you heard a single word I've said? I.. CAN'T.. eat."

DeSoto played the devil's advocate and waved the box of salty buttered morsels in front of Johnny's face in a siren's song. "Sure you can. You only avoid food when you're dying. I've learned at least that much about ya during the last two years we've been working together."

"Get that away from me. I'm really not hungry. And I'll tell ya why. Jeez, I can't believe I even have to explain how things really are right now to you." Gage sighed incredulously, still completely pent up.

"How are what things?" Roy frowned, pulling back the popcorn box to stuff another handful of the steamy corn puffs into his own mouth. "And ok, I won't worry about the popcorn. More for me then."

Gage hurrumphed impatiently, holding up an index finger in a just-you-wait for-it-and-I'll-tell-you-right-now,-idiot gesture. The last word of Roy's sentence was barely out when Johnny leaped right in. "Just how are we gonna know what to look for when our shammed emergency entry cue comes in? They did say they were gonna do that sometime during the show. I mean it could be anything. I don't want to look like a fool running out there prematurely, before the real moment they're deciding. Know what I mean?"

Roy just blinked a few times. "Johnny, how can we mess up? Don't you think a whole lotta of those circus folk out there are gonna be yelling and hollering for help and calling for us when the time comes?" Roy asked.

"I don't."

Roy stopped chewing. "I think you'd better explain that." he mumbled.

Johnny leaned into him, whispering fiercely. "Maybe they won't be making a lot of noise. After all, if I was the ring master, I know I wouldn't want to freak out the audience with something that shocking. It might get some little old lady out there sick. Or something even worse."

"Then aren't you glad we brought our extra rescue squad along?" Roy winked innocently.

Johnny squinted his eyes. "Roy, you're missing the entire point I'm trying to make."

Roy was equally dead set, but thoroughly amused as well. "So far, you haven't made a very clear one. And yes, I'm confessing to a little confusion on my part."

Gage closed his eyes after taking a very, very,..very deep breath in.  
Then he let it out. Slowly.

Soon, his frustrated anger was back under control. Then Johnny opened his mouth and spoke, surprising lucid. "Roy, will we know what to expect when their unknown type accident finally happens?"

Roy found that he just couldn't resist the obvious. "We're firemen. Do we ever know?  
Usually, we wait to get clued in by a certain golden throated Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatcher." DeSoto snorted mirthfully, grinning like the cat in the perverbial gold fish bowl.

Gage gaped. He threw up his hands in exasperation and started rubbing his forehead in pained irritation. "I don't know why I even talk to you sometimes, Roy. You know that?"

Roy was decent enough not to dignify that comment with a reply, but that didn't stop him from grinning or pushing his partner's more than obvious buttons. Finally, he relented. "Ok. I'm coming clean. Yes, I've been wondering exactly the same thing you've been wondering. Are you satisfied?"

"Kinda.. Kinda." Johnny said, waggling so-so fingers. Then he grabbed Roy by the shoulders, upsetting the popcorn box to the point where most of it spilled out all over the ground. A nearby chained elephant startled them both when its bristly, freckled pink and gray trunk shot out to claim the fallen kernels for itself,  
cluster by brown, dusty corn cluster.

"Hiya, Caesar..." Roy said, patting the behemoth tusker on the forehead. "You're welcome." he chuckled.

Johnny was completely unglued as of that exact moment. He gripped his pounding heart in reaction. "That was.... He reached out and got your food from that far away?" he peeped.

"Yep. Prehensibility's handy, ain't it?" DeSoto grinned toothily.

"Maybe for him. I don't have a trunk,.. or a tail. At least, not the last time I checked."  
Johnny said, finally sitting down shakily on a nearby hay bale.

"I'll be sure to let you know if you suddenly spring out a third eyeball." Roy laughed.  
Then he leaned in. "If that'll truly be what makes you feel better."

"Feel better? Feel better?! I'll tell you what'll make me feel better. What'll make me feel better is when we're finally able to do something for that fake emergency call they're gonna spring on us sometime within the next hour. That's what and that's why I'm so &~%*#$ nervous!" Johnny finished dramatically, swatting away Caesar the elephant's trunk irritably when the pachyderm tried to hug him around the head with a buttery, muscled coil of nose.

Roy finally looked his high strung partner straight in the face in all seriousness.  
"Whatever for? You act like we've never faced life and death situations before.  
For Pete's sake, Johnny. This isn't even going to be a real one."

"That's the problem right there, Roy. We.. don't...KNOW what it's going to be." he said stabbing himself in the temple sharply with a finger. He didn't even wince when a self made red mark of impact popped out on his skin seconds later. At least, he didn't until Roy pressed a drained pink lemonade cup discard from out of the garbage can against his head to chill it back down into invisibility using left over ice cubes insulating through the cup's soggy paper.

DeSoto didn't say another word and he just placed Johnny's hands one by one onto the cup until Gage was paramedic treating himself. Roy looked up at another surge of applause from the monster crowd that was still visible despite all the show lights."Oh, look. They're sending in the clowns. I like clowns. You should, too. For I know they'll help make you feel better. You see, a clown is like aspirin.."

Gage shook his head in incomprehension, his face squinting up in utter frustration.  
"Like aspirin? I don't follow.."

"Yeah, a clown is like aspirin..." Roy insisted, scowling. "Only he works twice as fast. Although even a whole mob of those might not work in your case at all." he said, looking away to salvage the rest of the popcorn Caesar hadn't yet raided out of his mangled box. "I'm afraid you're hopeless, junior." he concluded, nodding his head ruefully.

Johnny was speechless.

Until a young woman of sixteen or seventeen popped through a fold in the inner curtain of red and white canvas and peeked in on them. She was dressed in silver sequins trimmed in navy that matched a pod of white poodles collared in the same show gawdy way that swirled in with her chaotically. "There you are." she told the two firemen. Then she turned to her French coiffed charges. "Boy and girls. Sit."

Immediately, the group of poodles sat down in front of her in a perfect row, eagerly watching her face silently with waggling tails and excited ears for her next soft order.

"Stay..." she said, with a subtle gesture of one finger. Then she turned to the two formally neck tied paramedics. "Oh, that'll never do." she said. Instantly, she plucked off first Johnny's tie and then Roy's in quick order. "There.." she said. "You're going to be working like everyday living, guys. Not giving a demo." she said, tucking the ties, one each, into their uniform shirt pockets.

"But I thought that's what a fake emergency exercise is, Miss.... Uh, I'm Johnny Gage, and this is my partner--"

"..Roy DeSoto.." said the young show girl without missing a beat. "I know your names, sirs. You said them both during your intro speech, remember?" she stage whispered."Come on.. we're taking a break. I know for a fact that you won't be needed for at least half an hour."

Johnny glommed onto that little bit of concrete fact. "Half an h-- Hey, where are we going?" he asked as the dog trainer tugged on both of their arms as she dragged them out of the main Big Top tent.

"To set up your semi-permanent dressing room and digs for as long as you're gonna stay with the tour." she grinned happily. "The circus owner asked me to settle you in personally. Hi, my name's Ashley Diamond. Or, at least, that's my performing show name."

Roy piped up eagerly. "Nice to meet you,.Ms. Diamond. Uh,. are we going to be staying in the performer's train along with all the rest of you?"

"Nahh. Boss figured that being civilian might set your tastes for some privacy at night. Usually normal folk are a little bit more modest than us theater types when it comes to dressing into garb issues." Ashley explained.

"Uh, we're paramedics. Seeing nudity doesn't phase us in the slightest." Johnny elaborated coolly.

"Not others' that's for sure." shot back Ashley. "But displaying your own might be a different story when you're bunking up with a complete group of total strangers."

Both firemen opened their mouths at that surprising truth, but nothing succeeded in getting out enough to form words. They decided to just obediently follow where the charming young lady was leading them.

"Ah, here we are.." said the glitzy dog trainer. "Home sweet home.." she said, sweeping out a hand and arm dramatically. "Mommy Fortuna said that she was thrilled that some actual hard working firefolk would be staying in her own Romanian vardo."

Johnny squinted through the darkness, trying to identify any number of things: another tiny blue and yellow striped tent, an outhouse, an occupied red and gold guilded lion's cage.."A what?" he asked, straining to see in the rich darkness.

"A gyspy wagon, Mr. Gage. And a very comfortable one, too. It's an original from the old country. And it's all yours, fellas." she said, suddenly doing a magician's slight of hand from under her rich royal blue velvet cloak. An old, Victorian candelabra with already lit candles appeared out of thin air and landed slightly heavy into her hand.

They began brightly lighting the way.

Roy and Johnny barely comprehended that impossibility when they caught sight of the place of residence that would be theirs over the next two weeks. Their Headquarters borrowed spare rescue squad that was identical to the one they usually worked with out of Station 51, was already conveniently parked in the space between the two horse yoke bars that were attached to the green, intricately painted wagon. The squad's number 99 sparkled reflectively in safety glow under the flickering candlelight. "We remembered to leave the keys in the ignition for you so'll you'll be ready when we call for you, top of the next act. Come on, let me give you the grand tour of your new living space. You're gonna love it..." she grinned.

In the shadows, the brown and white pinto splashed side of a genuine Vanner gypsy horse grazing near the squad loomed out and was patted by Miss Diamond. "Easy, Fritz. These are friends. They aren't going to curse you, boy. But remember, they aren't used to being around horses."

Johnny cleared his throat. "Uh,.*Hmmph* My partner here might not be. But I am." he grinned at her. "I own a ranch full of horses. Well, full of three of them, at least. All mustangs."

"Fair enough. But watch out when the moon gets full. Fritz here believes in lunacy."

"So do we.." DeSoto chuckled. "Full moon shifts are the absolute worst. Speaking of which, looks like tonight's moon is all there."

"I promise we won't all fall apart at once. We're pretty good." she teased. Ashley beckoned the two paramedics to the ornately carved dainty stairs of the gypsy wagon. She drew out a brass skeleton key and turned it in the bronze lock until there was a click. "After you.." she said, pushing open the heavily windowed, varnished door.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo: A poodle trainer and her dogs.

Photo: A far away shot of a circus performing ring.

Photo: Sea lions balancing on a CHiP car.

Photos: Circus trains on railroad tracks. Traditional P.T. Barnum.

Photo: A gypsy horse's eye in closeup.

Photo: Johnny looking disturbed and dirty, near Roy.

Photo: An open vardo door above wooden stairs.

*  
From: Jeff Seltun Date: Wed Oct 18, 2006 4:45 pm Subject: Under Torch Light~~

Roy DeSoto sucked in his breath at the sight of what truly was an eyeful of ancient Victorian decor. "Wow, I feel like Artemis Gordon or James T. West from that sci-fi-wild-west TV show, Johnny. I think we've just been transported into the past a few hundred years or so."

The poodle trainer laughed richly. "But you'll be entirely comfortable. Come to the unhitched blue train car in between the lion cage and the carousel for any bathing. We've rigged up hot showers there from a ring. We all get to eat after the show's over and the animals are taken care of. Just head for the red tent next to the big one." she smiled, handing the wagon's key over to Roy on its bow tied lavender ribbon.

"Will do, ma'am. Thanks!" said Johnny, watching her sequined sparkled form departing down the vardo's yellow steps. When Roy had the door snugly closed against the night's chill, he launched himself into the air and back landed on the drapes and canopy bed, bouncing happily. "Ahhhh." he sighed, sinking into the richly embroidered pillows. "Now this is what you call truly escaping from it all for a while. I mean, just how much further away from modern Carson City, California can we get, than this?"

Roy grinned in spite of himself as he examined the filled white porcelain wash basin and pitcher set on one lace covered wagon dresser. "We can't.  
I'm liking this assignment of yours even more now, Johnny."

"Me, too. It just keeps on getting better and better." he said, eyeing the steady flow of attractive female circus performers through the wagon's stained glassed window as they ran over the grass from the train in a last minute dash towards their acts to come. He flung his face away from the etched panes when a loud snort of steam suddenly jetted against the glass. It was Fritz, the gypsy horse, getting curious about his new vardo residents."Or maybe not. I sure hope that circus horse minds his manners and doesn't decide to wake us up in the middle of the night just because he's looking for someone to play with."

"You can always picket his tether out of reach.." Roy suggested.

"Nah, then he'd only start whinnying, thinking that he's lonely or something.  
The way that girl has him now is good enough. I'll just...close the curtains on him later when we finally do get to try for some sleep. Maybe he'll get the message.."

Roy glanced down under a brightly polished wooden stool. "And there's our fire department duffle bags. Already stowed."

"Nice. Good innkeepers here. But do you think they have somebody available to do our laundry?"

"There's always hoping. Come on. We've checked out our digs, partner. Let's go drive the rescue squad into the tent so we'll be ready for when they are." DeSoto suggested.

Johnny began to squirm nervously once more. "Aw, Roy. Do we have to head back there so soon?"

Roy eyed Gage in amusement. "Come on, Mr. Cold Feet. I'll let you feed Fritz a sugar cube or two while I check out the medical and extrication gear. There's some in the sugar bowl." he said, pointing.

Gage snatched a few up into his shirt pocket and was immediately out the door and at the horse's side, fully bent on forgetting his stage nerves as he stroked and petted his brown and white splotched neck.

DeSoto got busy making sure that all was ready.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Johnny had resumed pacing back and forth just out of sight of the show lights, actively. He was so twitchy, that he already had his fire helmet on his head to guard against it falling off for when the time to respond actually came.

Roy stood nearby, peering through a convenient peek hole in the side of the curtain. "Huh. That can't be it.."

Gage immediately scuffled in the dirt, shouldering him aside eagerly as he took Roy's place to spy on the show. "What isn't? What are you seeing?"

"An impalement."

"What?!"

"Relax, Johnny. It's just a magician's illusion act with a bit more flair."

Johnny made a face when he finally saw what Roy had been looking at.  
He made a noise of disgust. "Eeeyuckkk! You're right. A two foot skewer through the stomach's not what you call your everyday kind of accident." he chuckled finally.

DeSoto tapped him on the arm. "Let me keep that eye out. You can go back to wearing a groove down into the dirt."

"Very funny. " Gage said stepping back as a troupe of hobo clowns ambled past them for the show ring. A few of them even waved at Johnny and Roy with few hat tips angled towards them in silent greeting. "Break a leg." he said, remembering just in time what to say.

One of the clowns, holding a gigantic rolled up newspaper under an arm,  
waved at him. "Hiya, mac." he said. "'Fraid it's not going to be that. See you in a few minutes.." he winked. Then he was gone.

Gage started gesticulating wildly at Roy.  
"Hey, Roy.. Did you hear what that clown in the white hat said?! He said.."

"I heard. You're worries are over, Johnny. Now we know who to start watching here." Roy grinned, crossing his arms over his elbows. For good measure, he walked back to the squad and started it up into a propped open doors idle. "He must have seen how pale you're getting thinking about it too much."

"Me? Getting pale?" Johnny quipped, "That'll never happen. I'm the wrong nationality. I never look like I can even suffer from that kind of thing." he laughed, finally grinning.

Roy was glad to see him getting back to normal. He turned back to monitoring the clown troupe's act from his peek hole. Then his mouth flopped open at a chorus of female screams coming from the audience. "Holy cow! Johnny, let's hit it." he said, running for the squad in measured steps as he put his helmet on.

"What? What's going on?" Johnny said, rushing back to the truck with him.  
"Is this it?"

"Yep. No doubt about it. You're gonna haveta see this in order to believe it, pal. Just get in. Then get ready to start grabbing everything we've got." DeSoto said with an excited smile, flipping on their lights and sirens. "They certainly pulled out all the stops for us with this one." he chuckled.

The two paramedics pulled forward and shot through the main tent's show entrance in a cloud of dust.

Johnny couldn't believe what he was looking at. He got out of the squad and positioned himself on the running board in a crouch to jump out of the cab the moment Roy got there.

Their particular hobo clown was burning..

He was fully on fire, where he sat in his chair. It looked like his oversized newspaper was to blame for it. For there was nothing left of his sportspage except a huge charred hole where the igniter solution had started from.

"Holy cow..." Gage gaped. "I know that ain't real. He's not yelling. But what an effect. Jeez. Took me by surprise."

"The audience, too. Now you see why this is definitely it." DeSoto said, screeching to a halt right in the middle of the circus arena about ten feet away from the fire protected blazing performer.

"And how. Let's go." Johnny said snatching his door open. Both firemen grabbed their jackets and gloves and threw them on. Simultaneously, Roy grabbed a fire extinguisher from a side compartment while Johnny got out and unfolded a fire tarp.

Shouting to move the other worry acting, fake panicking clowns away from their "victim", the two tackled the clown right out of his chair in a smothering bundle of carbon dioxide fog and retardant canvas. They got him quickly face down into the dirt while they smothered the sputtering flames burning away the clown actor's costume from the fire safety suit. Roy and Johnny made a big show of smacking out escaping flames with their hands and soon,  
other clowns play acted rescue around them to reassure the audience that this was all part of the performance. A few of them even got out plastic shovels and starting fake shovelling dirt onto their fellow fallen. One even started dog paddling sand over backwards onto the clown through his bent knees.

Gage leaned down, trying not to grin, towards their clown's ear. "Ok, it's out.  
What's wrong with ya now?"

"Your choice. Anything you decide, I guess. Boss told me to just go along with whatever." said the clown, keeping his eyes closed. "I got makeup under my rip away fire suit that looks like burns if you'd like."

Roy patted some hands up near the clown's head to hide what he was actually doing. "Ok,..you know about first aid, right?"

"Yeah.. A little." said the clown guardedly, still not moving.

"Pretend you've quit breathing..." DeSoto said to him.

The clown nervously peeked open one slimy eyeball. "What?!"

"Shh.. We won't hurt ya. We'll pull the pressure valve off our resuscitator bag so it'll just look like it's working over your face. Ready?" Gage asked, pretending like he was pulling off the fire tarp to begin to roll the clown over for an airway check.

"Just keep my red hearts underwear on..." hissed the tensed up clown.

Johnny felt very gleeful that the tables were finally turned and that somebody else was going to be nervous for a while instead of him. "We will. If they do come off, you'll be under a soaked saline sheet. Won't be see through, I promise."

The clown reclosed his cracked open eye. "You gonna do CPR, too?"

"Whaa?-Uh, you want us to?" DeSoto asked, getting the clown the rest of the way over onto his back.

Gage looked up at his near smirking partner.  
"The crowd'll love it, Roy. Let's try it. Mister, when we get to fake shocking you,  
I'll tap your side with my shoe's toe. Just remember to jerk upwards like in all those doctor TV shows you've seen. But only when I press down with the paddles, ok? That'll look real."

"With the juice off, right?" asked the hobo clown fearfully.

"Completely off." DeSoto said, bending his head down over the clown's nose and mouth while Gage busied himself getting the clown's blackened rags and black spray painted foil fire suit peeled open from over his chest. "We can control that easily. There's a charge button we won't push on the defibrillator."

"Ok, I'm all yours. When you're ready to go live, hand signal that clown with the yellow wig on. He'll toggle on the microphones in the ring and everyone'll hear anything you say during the rest of things." hissed their burned clown.

Roy nodded slightly and reached for the clown's neck in a fake pulse check.  
Not surprisingly, he found a very fast one. "Relax. We're both good, too." he stage whispered. Then he gave the sound clown the cue to go sound live.  
Roy pulled off his helmet to test to see if he could hear the noise through the audience loud speakers, purposely throwing it off in a hurry so that it landed in the dirt with a loud clatter. He could, so DeSoto began their paramedic act. "Johnny, he's not breathing. No pulse."

"Here's the ambu bag resuscitator. I'll go grab the oxygen, the rest of the gear, and the biophone." Gage said, handing Roy a bag that he had snapped the one way valve off of. Johnny pulled out his HT and turned it on, knowing that it was already set to the same frequency as the circus's P.A. system. "Squad 51 to L.A., we've a pulseless non-breather at our location. Respond one ambulance to the main tent, center ring a.s.a.p. We've a severe burn victim."

Gage almost grinned again when he heard the ring master rustling papers over the speaker system as he searched for his scripted lines. ##10-4, Squad 51. The ambulance's ETA is being reported...They're five minutes out.## The M.C. said into his microphone.

"10-4, L.A." Gage spoke again into his handy talkie. "We'll be contacting Rampart Hospital shortly via biophone telemetry as soon as our victim's being circulatory supported."

##L.A. copies, Squad 51.## came the ring master's reply.

Gage flung open the squad gear doors and grabbed out the defibrillator and the oxygen resuscitator as well as the marked dummy drug box filled with needle-less saline syringes that was sitting next to the real one.

When Johnny got back to his partner's side, he saw that Roy had already begun a cycle of fake compressions over the man's chest and was counting them off audibly. "...twelve, thirteen, fourteen...fifteen.. Ok.."

Gage scrambled over to the clown's head and gave him a couple of breaths using the green transparent breathing bag and mask after he had hooked it up to the oxygen tank. Then he reached into the drug box and pulled out an oral airway the proper size and a fake second one that had had its tongue channel tube cut off part way down the shaft.

He made a show examining the real oropharyngeal airway in a spot light before he sneakily tucked it away into his belt for the fake held in his other hand. Johnny exaggeratedly established it in between their actor clown's teeth.  
"Initial airway's in, Roy. I've got good chest rise and I'm getting a pulse with your CPR compressions." he said, putting a palm on the man's chest around Roy's hands as he gave a squeeze on the bag. The clown dutifully matched a huge rising breath with Johnny's bagging and vocal cue.

DeSoto nodded from where he was working. "Charge the defib then, Johnny. We've profused him long enough."

Gage handed over the paddles and turned on the power so that the datascope's lights turned on and it made a very satisfying power up whine. Then he didn't hit the charge button, but faked a strong touch to a plate near it, instead. "Paddles are charging....one hundred, two hundred... Is he in ventricular fibrillation?"

DeSoto spoke up."I've got the conductive gel, Johnny..." he said, holding out the lubricant tube. "Putting some on." DeSoto squeezed out a couple of gobs and rubbed the paddles together before placing them on the clown's burn makeup'd skin. "Checking for a shockable rhythm..." he said as Johnny delivered another breath by bypassed ambu. "Yep. Confirmed: He's in V-Fib...Here..." he said handing out the electrodes' grips to Gage. He took over reading out what would have been a stacked buildup in the paddles' plates."...three hundred watts... Four!"

Johnny shouted out his warning after he had the paddles set into place.  
"Clear!....I'm shockinnggg....." Then he nudged the clown with his knee."....now."

The hobo jolted up perfectly when Johnny pressed his hands down.

Gage and Roy both looked at the screen of the defibrillator after Gage had replaced his grips for a manual read. "Nothing!" said Gage. "I'll contact the hospital for an esophageal airway and permission for cardiac drugs."  
he said casting the paddles aside, back into the case.

"I'll keep up his CPR, Johnny." DeSoto said, starting in on another shallow and feigned set of compressions.

Gage kept up his end of things by using his chest to squeeze the bag flat against his knees while he used his hands to hold the ambu's mask over the clown's face. He spoke urgently into the phone's receiver, chin perched on his shoulder. He was quite surprised when he heard his own voice echoing through the sound system. ::My aren't they thorough gaffers.:: he thought of the sound guys lurking in the background behind the audience. ::I'll just bet they can hear me all the way out to the circus train on the tracks outside. :: "Rampart Hospital? This is Squad 51. How do you read?"

##I read you loud, Squad 51.## said the ring master in a little dialogue slip-up.

Roy, Johnny and the clown all fought to keep their faces in serious, or dead,  
expressions.

Gage piped up. "Uh,,*cough* Rampart, we've a male victim aged approximately fifty years. Victim of self immolation. Second and third degree burns are evident over ten percent of his body. He is currently pulseless and non-breathing undergoing oxygenating CPR. We report a no-recapture on our initial shock."  
Johnny finished talking and started sweating when he began to wonder whether or not the fire department's script had been written for a cardiac arrest situation.  
But he needn't have worried. The circus ringmaster was a true pro.

##10-4, Paramedic Squad 51. Establish an esophageal airway and administer two amps sodium bicarb into an I.V. of normal saline wide open. Then deliver one milligram of one to ten thousand concentration of epinephrine I.V. push. Ahh,.. then zap him again.## came the disembodied biophone voice over the circus speakers.

Johnny parroted back his orders, hiding a grin. ::Say, he's pretty good. He sounds just like Dr. Br--::

Roy broke off his thoughts. "Johnny, he's vomited. Grab the suction!"  
he shouted as he rolled the "dead" man over onto his left side.

Automatically, Gage did and together they "removed" the oral and suctioned the clown's mouth out for real by using the wet inside of his cheeks to create some very dramatic sound effects.

Soon, after another set of CPR, the medications' delivery into a hanging I.V. bag held by the yellow haired clown, and the insertion of a cut off prop EOA, the two paramedics finally called out scripted good news with their second defibrillator shock.

Johnny finally let the smile he had been hiding during their whole act, out.  
"Roy, he's back. We've got a ....ventricular rate of thirty.." Gage made up as he used the paddles again for a quick peek. "And...I've got a pulse at the neck,  
but he's not waking up." he said so their actor wouldn't unrealistically with his fake EOA in.

"Ok. Still unconscious. He's breathing on his own, Johnny. I'll patch him in on the electrocardiogram monitor so we can send his EKG information to the hospital." Roy said, switching out Johnny's prop ambu for a real flowing oxygen mask.  
::Heh. This won't hurt our friend here.:: Roy mused.::And it might begin to cool him down some internally before we start irrigating his "burns". The O2 bottle's been night chilled. Man, that must have been real hot inside that fire suit sitting under all those flames like he was.:: he decided. He could see their actor relax visibly under the free lung air conditioning he was being offered. "Johnny, his breathing rate's shallow, shocky, at twenty, but adequate."

"Ok. I'll take his blood pressure. Can you get a set of breath sounds via stethoscope? The doctor's gonna wanna know if he burned himself inside any."  
Gage asked, still enjoying their whole emergency scenario actively. Roy could see the happy body english on his partner easily enough.

"Checking.." said Roy, bending over the clown's chest with his drum. "He's clear. He didn't aspirate anything into his lungs when he got sick earlier." he said. "Nor is he showing signs of fire induced pulmonary edema. There's no fluid building up in his chest at all." he explained to the audience.

"Blood pressure's stabilizing, Roy." said Gage. "He's up to ninety over sixty two."

Johnny shared some dialogue with "Rampart" on their patient's regained pulse status and they began his burn care using covering sheets and liter bottles of saline solution poured along all areas where the clown's body makeup showed "injury".

Soon, they got their transport orders from the ring master.

A sound of a siren approached the circus tent and Roy and Johnny looked up automatically. Johnny spoke into the biophone. "Rampart, ambulance's here.  
Our E.T.A. is eight minutes to your burn ward. Our victim's vitals signs are stable.  
We've extubated the airway, Rampart, and he's beginning to show signs of waking up."

##10-4.## said the phone. ##Give an update on a new set of vital signs during transit. And use five milligrams morphine, given intravenously, as needed for pain.##

The siren grew louder and all eyes turned to the front tent entrance. The hobo clown's troupe appeared a few seconds later and the silent, respectful circus audience suddenly burst out into open, bubbling laughter.

Gage and Roy,.. and at last, the "burned" hobo clown with some feigned weakness, also looked over there...

Johnny's self satisfied mirth faded into a growing glower that he barely managed to hide in time from the audience. It appeared almost right away when he saw what was coming quickly towards them.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Aww, Roy.. We were upstaged in the worst way! Now I don't know how all those people tonight are EVER gonna start taking fire paramedics seriously." Gage said, thumping his fist onto a nightstand next to the bed inside their gypsy wagon. "Those clowns completely ruined everything for us."

"Oh, I don't think they did anything wrong, Johnny. I think you're just overreacting again." said Roy, almost half asleep on the cushy bed next to Johnny's butt. "I thought it was simply masterful to do what they did when they did it to show all the kids that none of what happened was actually real. After all, spontaneous combustion's not exactly what I call good childhood fairy tale fodder."

"Oh... Yeah.. It's not... Ok, I agree with ya there. The circus had a right to lighten things up a little. Including making a clown go up into eventually fake proven smoke. But enough is enough of a joke...." he agonized again at the memory. "...without us getting it rubbed in like that. They didn't have to do that bit at ALL." Gage grumbled.

"I rather liked it." DeSoto said, chuckling where he lay eyeing up the heavily varnished and curtain draped ceiling. "I thought everything they did afterwards was super funny. Including our hobo friend's shinanigans. He's very good at sight gag."

Gage glared the question. "In whose opinion?"  
Roy cracked a smile. "What? Didn't you like the circus's ambulance, Johnny?"

Johnny shot to his feet and leaned a hand on the window so he could see out into the thunderstorm that was fast approaching the circus grounds.  
"No. Not a clown car where thirty clowns run out of it and try to put your patient inside of it by using a stretcher with no bottom in it..." Gage complained.

Outside the wagon, getting rain wet and loving it, was Fritz. To Johnny's dismay, the gypsy horse started laughing almost as loudly as Roy did.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photos: None.

*  
From: "Patti" Date: Fri Oct 20, 2006 9:42 pm Subject: -AMA-

It was intermission, the prepping stretch of time the circus took in between the floor and animal acts in the rings and the aerial ones.

Station 51's gang had made good on their threat to make an appearance at Roy and Johnny's departmental gig.

"Say,..she's a looker." said Chet, leaning back on a picnic table that was one of many rainbow hued ones placed practically inside the red food tent where the show's chefs ran a gem of a chow line.

The firemen were surprised that the employee tent offered an extremely varied multi-ethnic menu, everything from grilling steaks to vegan rice dishes from the far east. "Johnny, you're missing out." said Kelly tipping his head back as he peered at something up in the rafters.

"Whaa- huh?" Gage said, looking up from his heavily laden plate he had perched on his lap. He cast his head about but didn't see anything past a plethora of colorfully dressed circus performers.

"Zenith twelve o'clock.." Hank offered helpfully, sucking some barbeque sauce off his fingers.

Gage looked up and noticed an elegant aerialist suspended over their heads.  
"Oh, that's Sonya Skye. Everyone tells me that she's world famous for working the ribbons."

"Working with what?" asked Stoker, reaching past Cap for a mustard bottle.

"The ribbons, you know, like spinning stunts on ropes. Only she doesn't use those. Just chiffon ribbons." Johnny grinned in appreciation.

"Careful, Johnny. You might burn your steak. I think you're overheating a little." Marco warned teasingly as they all watched the girl work through a practice routine of ballet moves and flips and strength moves on the two long lengths of red scarves upon which she hung.

Gage didn't even hear him. "And she's not married. But the strongman says she does have a boyfriend. He's a trapeze artist on the swings and a wire acrobat."

Hank studied her thoughtfully. "She's not using a safety line up there."

Roy chuckled. "I don't think she needs to, Cap. Haven't you noticed that we're the only ones unconsciously flinching whenever she does a hands free air flip?"

"She may be good. But still, you have to keep planning for the completely unexpected." Hank shrugged. "High angle anything always needs safety gear. If there's one thing I've learned in our line of work it's that nobody ever gets perfect at any skill no matter how much they've 's always, at the very least, a fatigue factor that keeps getting in the way."

"Yeah, that goes along hand in hand with some pig headedness at being impatient for getting things worked out real fast to begin with." DeSoto agreed, jerking a teasing thumb at Johnny as an example of who was already well known for possessing that kind of trait.

"Spoken like true firefighters, both of ya." Kelly mumbled, working through a plate full of spaghetti as if he had spent a week starving to death. "No, I think Johnny's got the right idea for once, guys. Let's just sit back and enjoy the scenery." he sighed, thoroughly enjoying the several suspended gymnastics groups surrounding them.

Cap chuckled. "So,.. what'd'ya get?" he asked his two paramedics.

Roy looked down from the girl aerialist. Then he finally realized that he was being addressed. "Oh. Uh.. For our first mock medical? We got a comical version of a human torch act."

"A what?" Marco laughed.

"It's a long story. I was a great fan of it although I can't say that Johnny was feeling too happy about it afterwards." Roy grinned.

"You saved the guy, right? I thought McConnikee wrote your scripts to include a save no matter what the medical scenario." Chet wondered.

"Oh, yeah. We saved the guy from burning and suffocating to death, but Johnny feels that the responding BLS support services left much to be desired."

"What happened?"

"Clowns happened." DeSoto smirked.

The rest of the guys blinked at him uncomprehendingly.

Roy rubbed his face with a napkin. "Uh, I guess Johnny'll have to explain that one himself later on when he's done oggling and eating. He tells it better."

"So you're having fun AND getting paid. That's great news. I was worried." said Cap.

"Do we ever not have fun on our jobs?" Stoker quipped.

The rest of the gang chuckled.

"How are your prop supplies holding up. Do you want me to call McConnikee and order more?" Cap said, tapping his HT.

"Nah, we're good." Gage said, finally paying attention to the conversation.  
"So far we just used some CPR stuff and an oxygen mask."

"Where's the squad? Did you get it under shelter before all this rain hit?"

"Yep. It's parked behind the horses over there. We figured they wouldn't tug or spit on it like some of the other animals might."

"Tug?" Chet frowned. "You mean they're hiding a gorilla or two around here someplace?"

"No, Chet. They aren't." Gage said, leaning in on Chet. "Think elephant trunks.." he said, pantomiming one in front of his face.

Roy giggled. "Yeah.. Poor Johnny's become the expert on just how annoying those can be. He's sure tangled with enough of them during the last couple of hours."

"What's the matter, Gage? Are you bored?" Hank said, seeing Gage's dazed expression.

"Far from. Just--....."

"...overstimulated...." broke in Marco.

Gage shot him a nasty look and didn't offer up a reaction.

"So, any real life emergencies cropping up?" Hank asked, rubbing his hands together.

"Nope. None. Well, none if you don't call a twisted ankle an actual emergency needing special attention." Johnny sighed.

Roy agreed, nodding blandly. "That was Rubber Man. He caught himself between a box car door and the jam getting out of the train."

"What did you do for him?" Cap asked, wondering about whether or not they had to have contacted the real hospital for permission to treat the performer.

"Ice and elevation." DeSoto told him. "Johnny and I both think he won't be needing a doctor as badly as some of us would've in the same situation, s--"

"..since he's so naturally double jointed anyway.." Chet interrupted.

"Yep. He'll heal REAL fast." Gage agreed.

"So how's the horse trailer?" Marco teased. "We all saw it driving in here."

"It's not a horse trailer, it's a genuine authentic Romanian vardo, a gypsy wagon normally used way back when for folk of the royal blood." Gage smugly shared with them. "We're housed like kings, believe it or not.  
We're completely comfortable. Everything's absolutely plush in there."

"Really? I never would have figured." Mike Stoker said, scratching his chin.  
Then his eyes tracked a commotion on the other side of the tent. "Uh, oh.  
Something's up.."

"Yeah,, she is.." said Chet, dreamily of the ribbon working Sonya, far over their heads.

Cap and the others sat up a little straighter and started paying attention when a babble, filled with stress, started rising.

"Oh, my g*d. Yuri's choking! Somebody help him!" cried the suspended Sonya, who could see everything happening down below her. The lithe young performer started sliding down the red chiffon bolts, impatiently shoving past her spin handler/spotter as she reached the floor. "Yuri!! I'm coming!"

Roy and Johnny and the others shot to their feet and started running towards the heart of the growing crowd.

True to the shouts of panic, a man was down, collapsed and unmoving.  
He was dressed in the apricot spandex of a trapeze artist.

"The ribbon girl's boyfriend." Chet guessed correctly. "I'll go get the ringmaster."

Hank immediately began issuing orders. "Stoker, go pull up the squad.  
The rest of you, control this crowd. They're interfering."

Marco immediately got on that, along with Stanley. "Folks, just step back.  
The paramedics are here and we can't help this man if you're all bending down over him like this. Step back!" said Lopez loudly.

One panicking lady, a bearded one, sniffled. "He's got to be choking. I saw him take a bite and then he just keeled right over on top of his plate."

"Let me through! Yuri! Are you all right?" asked Sonya, finally getting her tiny blond haired self, over to them.

Cap grabbed Sonya's shoulders when she showed no signs of staying away. "Now, miss. That's what we're trying to find out right now. Please calm down. Your panic's worrying everyone."

Sonya's eyes darted about and finally, she fell silent.

Cap could see that Roy and Johnny already had Yuri on his back with his chin tipped up. "The gear's coming. I told Mike to bring it all."

"Ok, Cap." Gage said, as he and Roy bent low over the unconscious man.  
"He's got a pulse."

DeSoto added more. "He's moving air ok here. And his throat and mouth are clear. Johnny, he's getting diaphoretic."

"He's not choking?" fretted the bearded lady standing next to Marco."Then what's his problem? I thought for sure that--"

"Ma'am.." said Marco, taking her arm. "Ma'am.. Roy and Johnny are gonna figure that out real soon here, ok? But you're gonna have to calm down and let them work on it. Why don't you have a seat?" he suggested, pulling over a nearby picnic table bench.

Hank crouched by Roy and began shoving benches, loose straw... and other people away from their patient. "Everybody, please. Help's already here.  
There's nothing to see that you need to know about right away. Please.  
Respect this couple's privacy by turning your backs to us. I'm sure that you wouldn't want people gaping down at you if you were in his place right now..."

Stanley's deep commanding tone had an effect and soon, folks moved away and the sounds of normal dining began again.

The white leotarded Sonya was the only one who remained, seated by Yuri's side, holding his hand. The firemen let her stay. "Yuri.. I'm here."  
she sobbed.

Roy turned to her as Johnny got up to meet Stoker and the squad for their emergency gear. "Sonya, do you know any of Yuri's medical history?  
Does he have any prior condition that might explain why he passed out like this?"

Sonya's large eyes started tearing up. "No.. no.. uh. Yuri and I keep ourselves in good shape. We have to, or we wouldn't be able to work."  
she said in a thick, soft soprano, full of Romanian accent. "He eats good. Exercises for hours every day..." she wrung her hands nervously in her lap. "I..." she broke off. "He never faints. That much I know." she finally said with a strangely guarded expression.

Her evasiveness wasn't lost on Johnny. "Sonya, it's important that you tell us anything you know so we'll know exactly how to treat him."

"I know nothing important. Please, you have to believe me.." Sonya said,  
suddenly looking up as Chet returned with the circus ringmaster. She nervously stood and lowered her head, refusing to meet her boss's eyes.  
"Just take care of him."

The ringmaster was swift to aid the firefighters. "I've instructed the sound crew to restore your radio frequencies to normal. Do you need me to do anything else?" The red coated ring master stopped in his tracks when he saw who was on the ground. "Sonya? That's Yuri.."

"Yes. It is.." the girl said defensively. "But he will go on without breaching his contract. He is just tired, sir. I promise." she whispered.

The ringmaster's face softened, not at all hard or businesslike. "He will perform only if these men say that he still can, Miss Skye. You know the employee rules as well as I do. I won't have him risking himself unnecessarily on the high wires."

"We know." said Sonya, still not looking up. "I'll come to your varda with his news as soon as I learn it." she promised.

The ringmaster nodded and got out of the way of Stoker delivering the oxygen apparatus as he departed the dining tent.

Roy looked up at Johnny a minute later. Yuri lay covered in a fire coat with his feet propped up on a trauma box. "Pressure's real low. Eighty palpated."

Johnny peeled back an eyelid around the oxygen mask they had going on the young man. "Dilated." He drew out a penlight and used it. "Reactive."  
Then he moved the mask aside and sniffed Yuri's breath."No ketones. Respirations are 22 and shallow."

"Does he need a nasopharyngeal airway?" DeSoto asked Gage.

"No. He's not down that deep." Gage answered. "He reacts to pain. See?"  
And Johnny demonstrated by firmly pinching one of the man's achilles tendons behind his heel. Yuri caught his breath, even though his lax, pale expression did not change.

Roy nodded. "I'll contact Rampart." Then he smiled. "Thank goodness this tent's only made of cloth. Our reception should still be good."

"Cap." said Johnny. "We'll need an ambulance for him. This is something more than just a faint."

"No.." said Sonya, cutting in fearfully. "No ambulance! He will not want that."

Hank took the girl by the shoulders. "Sonya, the choice isn't in either of yours or Yuri's hands now. The state of California recognizes any unconscious victim as giving implied consent for all emergency rendered care."

"We don't have insurance.." Sonya said quickly.

"Doesn't matter." said DeSoto. "Rampart Hospital takes in all patients, regardless."

"Please.. We can't go! We'll lose our place in the line up..."

Cap finally had enough and led the distraught aerialist away. "Let's go get you something to drink. You look thirsty. It'll be a few minutes before Mayfair arrives. Once they're here, then we can worry some more. Isn't Yuri's health the most important thing to be considering right now?" Hank asked her.

Sonya finally relented and stopped pushing away from the firm hand Cap had on her shoulder. She nodded and reluctantly went with him.

Roy and Johnny worked quickly. Stoker had opened an I.V. of D5W with 5% Dextrose at their request and had its line strung and already tube-bled free of air bubbles.

DeSoto spoke quietly to Dr. Early. "Rampart, he's definitely an unknown unconscious.  
There are no indications of previous trauma or signs of chemical dependent use.  
But.. uh...the medical history from his girlfriend is.. uh.. cloudy at best."

##10-4, 51. Considering his age, vital signs and his otherwise good overall physical conditioning, go ahead and treat for hypoglycemia. Even if he might prove to be later ketoacidotic, a little more sugar added to his system, won't injure him. If he does need that food boost to regain consciousness, then it's all good#  
said Joe over the biophone. ##Establish an I.V., 250 ml D5W 5% Dextrose. Run it in for five minutes. If there's no reaction, give him a single dose of glucagon IM.##

"10-4, Rampart. 250 ml D5W 5% Dex wide followed by 1 milligram Glucagon if no change is noted."

##Standing by, 51. Give me a new set of vitals and send me a strip as soon as you can. I want to rule out cardiac involvement due to an electrolyte imbalance.  
Specifically, I want to look for hyper or hypokalemia. I've found that people who're top gymnasts, sometimes get sensitive to those two conditions while they're touring hard professionally.##

Roy agreed. "He is a member of a circus troupe, doc."

##Add 100 mgs Thiamine I.V. That'll lend you some momentum. Run that through a saline lock, just in case we have to adjust his blood glucose more aggressively.##

"100 mgs Thiamine, piggyback, with a saline lock." Roy confirmed.

Roy and Johnny soon had a flowing I.V. of sugar solution entering Yuri's veins. The young man did not awaken.

"He's gotta be real low, Roy." Johnny puzzled.

Roy nodded to his partner. "Let's administer the glucagon. If he's gonna snap out of it, it'll be then." DeSoto said, picking out an orange case that contained a single vial of powder and a sheathed syringe.

"What's that?" asked the bearded lady, finally returning with a blanketed Sonya and Cap.

Gage smiled without looking up. "Glucagon is a hormone that the pancreas makes. It raises blood sugar by turning sugar stored in the liver, glycogen, into glucose, the kind of sugar anybody needs for a little brain fuel. Hopefully,  
this shot'll make him come to."  
Both ladies nodded and Cap finally left them alone to watch silently.

Hank watched as Johnny inserted the needle through the rubber seal disk on the glucagon bottle. Then Gage injected all of the liquid in the syringe into the bottle. Then he left the syringe in place and gently shook the bottle until the white powder inside of it had completely dissolved. Then he handed the whole set up over to Roy.

DeSoto made sure the plunger was completely down to the zero mark as he, too, shook the vial and needle, leaving his finger on the plunger to stop it from coming back up due to its vacuum pressure. Then he gently pulled the shot's grip out until all of the mixed hormone solution was drawn up into the syringe fully. Then he eyed it under a tent ceiling spotlight to be sure that all of the solid medication was truly dissolved.

Stoker carefully rolled Yuri over and pulled up one of his short's tights,  
exposing skin. Roy swabbed the area down with an alcohol pad and then gave the shot into upper, outer part of the man's buttock.

"Shall we draw a red top for the glucose level check the hospital's gonna want?" Gage asked his partner.

"Yeah, let's do that next. Mike, you can let him back down now. Easy.."  
said DeSoto, disposing of the spent glucagon needle into the sharps bin of the drug box.

Roy was just about to stick an empty blood drawing vacuum syringe into the saline lock when Yuri came to. Violently. One second he was out and the next, he was talking and trying quickly to get onto his feet.

"Watch it! Watch it here! You've got a couple of I.V.s in!" Gage said, as he, Cap and Roy all tried to hold the man's wrists.  
"Don't try to fight us or you'll hurt yourself.." Johnny yelled.

"Let go! I'm Yuri Komenche', it's Monday, and I'm in the food tent. Let me go! I'm fine.. Get off me!" said the trapeze artist.

Hank, frowning, gave the order. "Boys, let him go. We can't restrain him if he's fully oriented to self, place and time. And that he is, by self declaration."

Reluctantly, the two paramedics followed Cap's lead and let him loose.

"Good riddance. What IS all this?" said Yuri angrily. "Why am I stuck with needles?"

DeSoto took his helmet off into one of his hands so he could wipe perspiration off of his face with a napkin."You were passed out, Yuri. And you're even possibly coming out of a serious diabetic crisis." Roy told him, still holding out a couple of hands in the air, still worried about the I.V. lock hub and line hanging off the man's skin, where he stood.

"Me? Having the blood sugar disease?!" Yuri demanded. "I am not sick!"  
And with that, Yuri swiped a few fingers and pulled out the saline lock and the other dextrose catheter from both his arms. "I don't need these. And I don't need you to tell me what might be wrong with me. You are not doctors! That much I know!" said the thickly accented man.

Gage immediately changed his expression from tense to neutral.  
"Yes, that's true, a paramedic is no doctor. But we do work through one. And we've been doing just that from minute one, through this phone line." Johnny said, holding up the waiting biophone receiver.

"Makes no difference! Don't touch me." Yuri fumed.

"Yuri.. let's get out of here..." said Sonya, suddenly hurrying over to her lover's side. Yuri blinked a few times, ridding himself of the sweat running down into his eyes and he nodded firmly in agreement.

They turned to go.

"Yuri, wait a minute. You're going to have to release us from our legal responsibility." Roy began.

"I just did!" shouted Yuri indignantly, grabbing up a cup of juice to wet his mouth. He drained the whole thing and accepted another that someone else handed to him.

"On paper.." Cap told him firmly. "It's called an Against Medical Advice form.  
It'll only take a second..." said Hank, who towered over the diminuitive Yuri by at least a foot. "Then you can go about your business as usual."

"Fine. I will sign them." said Yuri.

Gage stepped forward. "Will you at least let us put on a couple of bandaids? You're bleeding all over the place." he said, pointing to where Yuri's I.V. sites used to be.

Yuri looked down at his streaming arms. Finally he held them up with a shrug.

But Sonya shoved Johnny away. "No. I will take care of him myself!" she said fiercely. A part of what she said was addressed to the silent, listening circus crowd around them.

Grudgingly, one by one, those other watchers nodded respectfully and left them both in peace.

As Sonya twitched out of her blanket to give to Yuri, Johnny had one more parting comment to make as he accepted his green pen back and the signed AMA papers. "You do realize, the fact that he responded to glucagon means that Yuri might be a new diabetic. Now that's a dangerous state to be in without a doctor overseeing developments. Especially for someone coming out of their first hypoglycemic crisis."

"He is not one. Do not tell us what we know not to be true." said Sonya.

She ended the conversation by leading Yuri off to their box car on the train.  
"Come on, Yuri.. We have only three hours before we go on. Come, you must rest. And eat." she glared at the two paramedics.

Once they were gone, the bearded lady leaned into Cap. "I thought he was real sick or something. Can they just leave like that?"

"They just did." Johnny replied flatly. "And we have no power to stop them as long as he's still awake. Because this paper says so."

"What a stupid document." she grumbled, drawing her furs more closely around her sequined dress.

"Tell me about it." Roy capitulated.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photos: None.

*  
From: "patti keiper" Subject: Coda Date: Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:17 pm

It was evening and the storm had long passed over the circus grounds.

The gang from Station 51 were still enjoying themselves off duty. Roy's wife, Joanne had even shown up with their children and the delight was glowing in their eyes while they laughed at the sights and smells happily unfolding around them. Their laughter made a joyful noise that infected all the firemen, causing them all to completely escape any thoughts of menial work.

Johnny offered Chris DeSoto another clump of cotton candy.  
"So.. Did your dad and I get stuck with a good enough work assignment detail or what..." he said, nudging Roy's young son in the shoulder.

"You sure did, Uncle Gage. This isn't working, this is playing."  
he beamed. "The rescue squad sure looks neat under all these lights."

"It does feel a little like the fourth of July, doesn't it?" Chet chuckled,  
munching on warmed up caramel corn.

Johnny shifted on the star bangled bleacher seat as he stuffed more pink sugar fluff into his mouth. "Hand the rest of this to your sister, Chris. She can't reach hers from over there."

"Ok." he said, tapping the much younger girl until he had her attention free from colorful distractions. "Eat up." he encouraged her. "You're falling way behind the rest of us. Here. I'll hold your lemonade." he offered.

Joanne and Roy were knotted around one another as they leaned up against a supporting tent pole in a blissfully companionable hug.  
Mrs. DeSoto leaned into him. "This is real nice. For once, your uniform doesn't smell like fire smoke."

Roy chuckled. "You should have been here earlier. Johnny and I were up to our necks in some of the stuff. We found ourselves right in the middle of flames, too."

"You were? Where?" Joanne grinned, peering at her husband suspiciously. "I don't see anything that's burned down."

"Oh. It wasn't a what. It was who. And he's not here right now." Johnny quipped,  
looking at her with a smirk.

Joanne made a face, still seated in between the two paramedics. "I'll ask more about that, later. Glad the kids missed that kind of spectacle."

"Oh, they did it ok." Roy remarked, kissing Joanne on the cheek affectionately.  
"You see, they didn't toast just any guy. They smoked a clown."

"They what?!" Joanne laughed uproariously.

"Through his sportspages. And it was hilarious." Johnny said to her, finally over all misgivings about the stunt.

"I sure hope it was, for all the children in the audience's sake."

"Don't worry. They buffered our pretend rescue with generous doses of slapstick." DeSoto giggled.

"While we were slapping." added Gage.

Cap, seated and flanked by two miniscule DeSotos, opened his mouth and out came a burst of rich toothy laughter. "Never thought I'd ever see the day a fire horror was joshingly fun poked. Wish I could've been there."

"You just might get your chance, Cap." Johnny told him. "Mac the clown told us we were such a hit doing that, that the ring master ordered the fire scenario to be used every night for the rest of our circus's run."

"I just hope nobody gets hurt. You know I'd hate that." Joanne said.

"It'll never happen." Roy told his wife. "Not here. This is the circus."

Chet piped up. "Yeah, I passed a sign on the way in that said it all, Joanne."

"What did it say?" she asked Kelly.

"The Samson Brothers' Circus Extravaganza.. Defying death every day."

Mike Stoker spoke up eagerly. "Shush.. SHhhhh." he hissed. "It's starting."  
he stage whispered. "I've been waiting for this act all night."

"Oh, yeah.. This is gonna be Sonya Skye's act next, isn't it?" Marco asked.

"Yeahhh.." said Chet breathily. "The... Birds of ...Paradox.. no." he corrected.  
"..of..Paradise." he said, reading off his program myopically in the glowing darkness.

"There are gonna be two of them?" Hank wondered. "We didn't see a second girl in the mess tent."

"We'll find out that answer soon enough." Lopez grinned. "Two pretty girls for the price of one? I can hardly wait. Sonya's costume was positively beautiful when I saw her dash by a couple of minutes ago backstage. All diamonds and red velvet."

A burst of ethereal music and the soft gushing of fog machines sighed as they began to fill the circus canopy above them full of mist. Two long bolts of red chiffon floated down from invisible heights in slow delicate tumbles. The hushed, warm misty darkness was stabbed with dazzling sparkles as a spotlight lanced down and transfixed an athletically ballet posed Skye as she began her dance in the air, suspended from the red cloth lengths.

The audience quieted, getting spellbound by the sheer grace of her movements and soft demonstrations of strength timed with the music. Everyone was captived in a moment, caught in timelessness.

The music thunderclapped and harsh lighting stabbed the ceiling, illuminating a platform far above the crowds that was lowering itself above Skye's red tethers. A trapeze artist in peach leaped for a suspended swing tied above him and flipped to perch himself onto it.

The two paramedics immediately got to their feet in shock. "That's Yuri! Oh my G*d. He's trying to perform tonight?" Roy asked incredulously.

"Let's get down there. Maybe we can convince somebody that this is sheer craziness." Cap agreed. "He was in no shape to do anything tonight."

"Joanne. Watch the kids, we'll be right back." Roy told her.

The six firemen excused themselves and made their way quickly off the grandstand benches as they headed for the green room space behind the main performance ring.

They confronted the ring master as soon as they spotted him.

The older man held up his hands. "I know what you're thinking. But it wasn't me who authorized the go ahead. Yuri's stubborn beyond belief when it comes to performing. He must have used his emotional sway over Sonya and then tricked the stage manager. I told him no."

"What do we do now? His part of the act's already started." Gage fumed.

"There's not much we can do." said the ring master. "There are no radios or speakers up there."

"Put up the safety net." Cap told him.

"What?" sputtered the ringmaster.

"You heard me. I saw the crew rigging it to fire up from under the sand before the show." Stanley said.

"I can't do that. It's a matter of professional courtesy to respect any performer's wishes about how they want their acts run. Sonya and Yuri haven't flown above a net for years." the circus boss insisted. "Everyone else will flay me alive if I betray their confidence. If I deploy it now while their act's still going on, I - "

"Mr. Masters, he's a very sick man." Roy glared. "Yuri only looked like he was recovering. That's how glucagon works. It's only a temporary fix."  
"Where's your triggering crew?" Cap roared. "His life is in danger!"

"I, uh, ..ok. Ok. I think Ike and Ben are over here. I'll - I'll go get them right now." said the ring master nervously.

"You'd better find them. You'd better hurry." Hank yelled after him.  
Then he turned to his men. "Are all circus folks this stupid?" he asked Stoker angrily.

"They do seem like any grunt that's ever come out of the fire academy." Mike grumbled.

Roy and Johnny began to fret after they began hugging the curtains just shy of the lighted entrance that led to the circus ring waiting for a miracle to happen.

A scream rippled out just then. A single, high strangled yelp from a frightened little girl seated just beyond the curtain and it instantly froze the hearts of all the firemen.

Far above, Yuri's had slipped off his trapeze swing's bar after he missed catching Sonya's supporting hand grip and his peach clad sparkling form was beginning to plummet like a limp rag doll to the ground.

Roy and Johnny burst into a frantic run for the ring just as two circus workers in black leaped for a red and white hand painted wooden lever located alongside the main tent pole. It looked for all the world like a railroad track control arm lever. It was the net's trigger mechanism.

But they didn't reach it in time.

Yuri struck the deep sand sickeningly from his original height of forty feet, and then he bounced up horribly into the air, suddenly a broken sodden mass.

Only then did the net finally pop up in a cloud of dust to form a protective mesh cocooning around him as it elastically rebounded from the ground on safety cables. Yuri was curled up into a ball inside of a second smaller suspended net as the main one finished deploying like a trampoline beneath him.

"Get him down! Get him down now!" Gage shouted to the circus men.

Sonya was the next to fall. She let go of her red cloth scarves and landed on her back into the large net. Sobbing, she scrambled to the edge and was helped off by stagehands and lowered to the ground.

She ran for Yuri as the firemen grabbed him as his net was lowered to the earth.

The ringmaster made an immediate appearance in the center ring, gesturing animatedly. He was calling for a clown troupe. "A var! A var!  
Send them in!"

Loud carnival music began and on his order, stunned clown performers obeyed and began their act , ignoring the ring that was quickly darkened next to them where the firemen and Sonya were kneeling over a gravely wounded Yuri.

The rescue squad was pulled up, lights and siren silent by hidden assistants under the black cover of a blue filtered spotlight.

Roy looked up, and he minisculely shook his head at Cap while he and Johnny began an effort of futile resuscitation while the others swiftly got a firm backboard and cervical collar into place.

The endotracheal airway did not thread down, failing in the presence of damage from two collapsed lungs and multiple rib breaks. A doctor ordered percutaneous needle cricothyrotomy was begun carefully in a pause between CPR sets.

Tears streaming down her face, Sonya took Yuri's blood stained fingers into her own and she began to speak to him softly with gentle words that desperately sought a warm tenderness. Sighing in pain and grief, Sonya's saddened heart quietly spilled out only pure love as the others listened while they frantically worked.

*OOC- Artist: Musical "A Little Night Music" Lyrics Song: Send In The Clowns by Judy Collins- 1975

*BIC-

"Isn't it rich?  
Are we a pair?  
Me here at last on the ground,  
You in mid-air.  
Send in the clowns.

"Isn't it bliss?  
Don't you approve?  
One who keeps tearing around,  
One who can't move.  
Where are the clowns?  
Send in the clowns.

"Just when I'd stopped opening doors,  
Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours,  
Making my entrance again with my usual flair,  
Sure of my lines,  
No one is there.

"Don't you love farce?  
My fault I fear.  
I thought that you'd want what I want.  
Sorry, my dear.  
But where are the clowns?  
Quick, send in the clowns.  
Don't bother, they're here.

"Isn't it rich?  
Isn't it queer,  
Losing my timing this late In my career?  
And where are the clowns?  
There ought to be clowns.  
Well, maybe next year."

--------------------------------------------------------

Audio- *song* Send In The Clowns- by Judy Collins

*  
From: "patti keiper" Date: Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:25 pm Subject: Freedom Of Choice..

Johnny Gage got on the biophone as soon as the tenuous emergency airway was in and the EKG turned on. He found that he had to shout over the circus music cranked over the tent's sound system. Deep inside, he knew that distracting the kids in the audience was necessary, but another part of him was mad that the show was still going on as if the accident had never happened. "Rampart, the needle crich was partially successful. We've no chest rise visually discernable with ventilations by bag valve due to bilateral flail segments, but he is not suffering any gross cyanosis. More information, Rampart, Uh,...this is a traumatic cardiac arrest due to a fall taken from a distance in excess of thirty feet onto sandy ground. He's been fully C-spine immobilized in the position found. He struck dirt completely supine. Note, he did not land on his head."

Nearby, Marco was talking into the squad's HT. "L.A., Squad 51. We're requesting Life Flight to our twenty for a victim of a fall with extensive trauma. We've a male in his twenties currently in cardiac arrest...."

##10-4, Squad 51. 'Copter Two reports an arrival of three minutes#  
said L.A.

Captain Stanley nodded at Lopez. "Marco, go outside and pace them out a safe landing zone. Make it a hundred feet by a hundred.  
Use five cherry flares in a square with the fifth showing our location's upwind direction. Get the area clear of any debris that might possibly become airborne. Then notify the pilot of any powerlines or nearby radio towers and give him our wind speed along with a visibility report."

"Right, Cap." said Marco, running for a side exit from the tent.

##51, are you detecting a carotid pulse with compressions#  
came the bio-comm's reply following Johnny's report.

"That's affirmative, Rampart." Johnny told Dr. Brackett, gripping the receiver in worried anticipation. He was very glad that his stationmates had chosen this night to come to their circus gig. Their aid was proving invaluable in more ways than one. He could feel their emotional professionalism buffering and calming him down despite the presence of Sonya's painful, knifing grief as she started crying out loud, in shock, next to them.

##Ok, then it may be that his aortic and pericardial integrity is still intact without any significant ruptures. What's the scope showing?##

Roy took the phone from Johnny while Chet, Stoker and Cap continued Yuri's cardiopulmonary support. It took two of them to make sure the thin, needle threaded cricoid cartilage pierced airway stayed open and in place in Yuri's windpipe while CPR continued. "Doc, we've still got coarse v-fib. He's shockable."

##Place him into antishock trousers first before defibrillating one time only. Ignore all limb and pelvic fractures when you use the suit and don't worry about movement in his back below the waist. His circulatory priority is first. Inflate both the M.A.S.T.'s legs and abdominal compartments as far as they go. His chances of making it back will be better if the worst of his soft tissue and internal bleeding is under control. Start two large bore I.V.s of Ringer's Lactate of 1000 cc's each into both carotid arteries and hand pump them in wide open. Turn them down only if infiltration PE develops and you start to get more solution than blood on suctioning. If he doesn't convert electrically, 51, provide continuous CPR and crico ventilations during transit. Get him in here by the fastest means possible. I'll have a full surgical trauma team ready to meet you. Deliver 1 mg 1/10,000 epinephrine IC and follow up with two amps sodium bicarb I.V.## said Kel.

"10-4, two Ringer's large bore, M.A.S.T suit priority, 1 mg of 1/10,000 epinephrine intracardially, two amps bicarb, and defibrillate once. Stand by." said DeSoto. Inwardly, he agreed with the minimal shocking order. ::That would only further exacerbate any damage he's already taken. Our CPR's already doing enough of that on its own.:: he thought grimly. He tossed down the phone and accepted the long needled syringe Johnny handed to him. "Cap, can you get her clear?" DeSoto asked Stanley,  
tossing a sympathetic head at Sonya as he uncapped the epi's six inch needle.

"Yep.... Stoker, stop CPR. They have it ready." said Hank as he knelt by Miss Skye and gently took her shoulders. "Sonya. Come on, hon. You have to let go of him for a minute."

"I can't leave him.." she sobbed. "He'll know that I let him go."

"Just for a minute. I don't want you to get hurt when we try to cardioshock Yuri."  
Cap told her gently. He finally had to pry her fingers away from Yuri's hand. Then he used his greater strength to lift her to her feet by her elbows.

"No! Please.. Don't take me away...." she yelled. "It's not right!"

"It's for your own safety, Sonya. Now let's look away from him. I want to turn your back for a moment." Cap told her.

"Why?!" she screamed angrily.

"We have to give Yuri a heart injection. It's some medication that's very like adrenalin. It might be something you won't want to see." Cap gently explained.

Sonya immediately accepted Hank's shoulder into a hug, her mouth gaping open as he turned her away. "Yuri's truly gone?"

"Now we don't know that. Only a doctor can say what his condition is for sure. And that's only after every other possible option and medical treatment has been tried." Stanley explained. ::This whole code's being worked for her sake now. So she'll have some comfort about Yuri's passing later, knowing that we at least tried everything to help him.:: Hank thought.

Sonya's face twisted in stifled grief and she fell silent in his arms as she buried her cheek into his jacket with her eyes closed. "I should have said something to the ring master. And to you. Yuri does take insulin. He injected himself just before we went on..." she squeaked.

Roy looked up in horrified discovery at that. He knew that Yuri's glucagon probably had had some side effects that caused a falsely high blood sugar reading following its use. ::That was only temporary, too. For a couple of hours at the most. Yuri must have injected too much to counteract what he thought was a normal food high and that must have crashed him into a rapid low while he was still up on the trapeze. Oh,..of all the-- this whole tragedy could have been completely avoided. If only he had listened to us...:: DeSoto thought sadly.

Gage stabbed the epinephrine home and pushed the plunger. "It's in,  
Roy." he said, pulling out the needle and checking its end to be sure all of it was still there and unbroken.

DeSoto nodded. Yuri's blood flecked body lifted under the paddles when Roy delivered his wattage in a shock at the lowest setting any adult needed. ::120. That's the least harmful.:: Intently, he eyed the monitor. "Nothing.  
Guys, start up on him again." he told the others. He picked up the phone. "Rampart, no conversion. His rhythm's degraded into fine ventricular fibrillation."

##Bring him in, 51. I'm afraid that's all you can do for him out there. Maybe we'll be able to do a little more for him once he's reached the hospital.## Kel encouraged.

"10-4, doc. Our ETA's eight minutes. The chopper's here." Roy said.

##See you soon, 51.## Brackett said, signing off.

Soon, Yuri was packaged onto a gurney and wheeled out of the circus tent.

Roy's family came running up to the squad once they saw that DeSoto had begun packing the medical gear Johnny didn't need on the chopper, away.

Chris couldn't contain himself and he ran into his father's arms.  
"Daddy, is that man dead?"

"Yeah, I'm afraid he is, Chris. I won't lie to you about that. How's your sister doing?"

"She didn't understand. She thought it was part of the act as another one of your mock medicals." the boy sighed. "Mom wants us to go before she figures out what really happened."

"That's a good idea. Are you doing ok? Seeing someone die unexpectedly's gonna be hard for while. You shouldn't've seen that kind of thing at your age,  
son. I'm sorry it had to happen. I was..... hoping you'd be spared being exposed to something like that, until you were.... old enough to join the fire department." Roy told him, releasing their hug. Gently, he wiped Chris's tears away.

Chris's face screwed up in grief. "Why couldn't you save him, dad?" he sobbed.

Roy's expression grew quietly sad. "Sometimes, you can't save somebody who doesn't want to be saved. And that's all there is to it." he said, gripping Chris's shoulders to show that he was completely there for him. "I'll tell you about the dark side of AMA forms someday. It's something I see a lot of working as a paramedic. But we won't talk about that today. I think we've seen enough unhappiness already."

The younger DeSoto nodded bravely as he finally gave into his shocked emotions completely. Roy just took his son deeply into both arms and let him cry.

Twenty minutes later, Chet showed up to let Roy know that everything was back in order as far as the squad and its equipment was concerned. He noticed that Chris was a little numb and instantly, he understood why. He spoke up loudly, with a grin. "Hey, fellas." he said to them. "Did you hear about the fire at the circus?" he asked Chris, kneeling down next to him to offer the boy an affectionate head rub along with a steaming hot chocolate cup.

"No." said Chris softly.

Roy started smiling.

"Yeah, man.. It was really "in tents." Kelly quipped.

Chris DeSoto's face split into a tearful laugh and soon, he found that his heart's pain had become.. just a little bit less.. than it was before.

FIN

Episode Thirty Eight A.M.A.  
Emergency Theater Live

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